Ultimately it didn’t make a difference. It just added another level of sadness to an already sad, declining show. I really don’t know what they hoped to accomplish with this scene. Making Cliff think she wants nothing to do with them, including Bobby. Who wants to see that? She says she’s dying. But we don’t see her die. And I’m not a fan of Michaels to be honest. Ultimately they could’ve killed her off with a letter to Bobby explaining why she did what she did. But they always hoped Victoria would return. At some point, just kill her off. Have some respect for the audience and character.
I didn't like the writers/producers decision to make Pam terminally ill. Worst, without showing her dying, and without confirming her death. But I understand why they did that.
- They were stil hoping that Victoria Principal would come back at some point.
- They - maybe - had the need to give the audience some (semi) closure about Pam. Fans surely kept on asking about the character, at the time. So with that short scene with the recast, it kinda ended fan's expectations : Pam was terminally ill. She was never coming back to Dallas. The end.
Unless VP would have agreed to come back, and the character (who was never confirmed dead) could be miraculously healed and back.
The irony is that TNT
Dallas (that I don't like much) at least gave us real closure, and answers, the best way they could, given what was written in the OG series.
